Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Invests $1.97 Million in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 59,312 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,965,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.10% of Veeco Instruments at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 50.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $87,485,000 after purchasing an additional 883,815 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 20.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,428,000 after purchasing an additional 371,221 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,308,000 after buying an additional 30,008 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,117,000 after buying an additional 793,429 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 37.3% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,175,759 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $38,953,000 after buying an additional 319,451 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

VECO opened at $27.92 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.33. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.68 and a beta of 1.15. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.52 and a 1-year high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. The business had revenue of $184.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total transaction of $71,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,297,671.14. This trade represents a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Company Profile

Veeco Instruments Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports semiconductor and thin film process equipment primarily to make electronic devices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, China, Rest of the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers laser annealing, ion beam deposition and etch, metal organic chemical vapor deposition, single wafer wet processing and surface preparation, molecular beam epitaxy, advanced packaging lithography, atomic layer deposition, and other deposition systems.